The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate an exceptionally interesting and innovative experiment to generate higher incomes and employment among the rural poor in Nepal in a participatory framework. By way of introduction to this programme - the Small Farmers' Development Programme (SFDP) - we first give some information on rural poverty in Nepal and its underlying causes. This is followed by a review of the development of SFDP. In the next section we provide some impressions of the various projects visited by us, including our discussions with some of the participants in the programme. In the concluding section we assess the national significance of the programme and its potential for multiplication and impact on the over-all rural development strategy in Nepal. Nepal is classified among the least developed countries. Its per capita income at $120 per annum in 1976 places it as the thirteenth poorest country out of 125 for which comparable data are available. The low level of development is partly reflected in the structure of the economy: in 1974-75, agriculture and forestry provided around 70 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). The share of modern manufacturing was less than 3 per cent, while cottage industry contributed around 7 per cent. As we shall see later, the social indicators reinforce this picture. The country faces extremely difficult ecological and communications problems. The economic performance in recent years has been rather poor. From 1965 to 1975, the GDP grew at around 2 per cent per annum as against an estimated population growth of 2.1 per cent per annum implying a reduction of over 1 per cent in GDP per capita over the period. The distribution of income, as we shall see, is highly uneven and may have deteriorated over this period. Food production has failed to k?ep up with population growth. Nearly 95 per cent of the population is in rural areas where the bulk of the poor people live. In the next section we analyse the extent, incidence and main determinants of rural poverty.
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Publisher:
ILO
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(1979
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Type / Script:
Progress Report
in English
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Keywords:
POVERTY, RURAL POVERTY, DEVELOPMENT, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FARMERS, DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, POPULATION, POPULATION DISTRIBUTION, RURAL POPULATION, URBAN POPULATION, URBAN POPULATION, LITERACY, INFANT MORTALITY
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Thematic Group:
ILO
:
International Labor & Labor
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Thesaurus:
14.05.03
- Social Development
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Reference Link:
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